Crain door for freight cars



Oct. 5 1926.

C. E. CARAWAY GRAlN DOOR FOR FREIGHT CARS Filed March 20. 1924 MIMIPatented ()ct. 5, 1926.

c'rnnnircn :1. cAnAwAY, or ronr v'riLtIAMs, oirro.

GRAIN noon son FREIGHT CARS.

' Application filed March 20, 1924. Serial No. 760,513.

My invention relates to doors for freight cars and more particularlytoan auxiliary door or grain door for use in shipment of bulk grain. s

In the freight shipments of grain in bulk, such as wheat, barley, oats,shelled corn, and so forth, it is necessary to provide an auxiliaryclosure inside the usual freight car door, -to prevent leakage of thegrain vin transit and to facilitate the loading and unloading of the carof grain by restraining the more or less fluid body-of the grain whenthe main'car door is opened. Itis a common practice for grain shippersto nail a succession of boards across the inside of the door opening ofthe car. This barricade of boards must be broken down when the carreaches its destination. Each shipment requires the erection of a newbarricade. Not only does this involve a loss of time and labor, inpreparing the car for each grain shipment, but .it also involves aconsiderable loss ofmaterial, as the barricade boards are lost or(destroyed, when the car is unloaded.

In the present invention there is contemplated-anauxiliary door orbarricade of sectional character, whichmay form a part of the regularequipment of the car, and capable of'being shifted into and out ofposition as required. The sections ofthe auxiliary door or grainbarricade are relatively adjustable to afford at will a variabledischarge opening at the bottom of the door for the release of the cargoof grain, andto provide a sec-, ond adjustable section at theupper partof the auxiliary door or barricade for inspection purposes and tofacilitate the loading of the cars. These sections being adjustable inrelation with each other and with the intermediate .normally. stationarySECtlOIl of the barricade 'do'or,.enable the device to be folded tocompact form when notin use. The collapsible barricade or grain door ismounted upon a traveling carrier or. trolley by which when notneeded forgrain shipment purposes it may be shifted away from the door "openingsto an out of the way position where it will be suspended close to thewall of the car, readily accessible when needed, but not obstructing theuse of the car for other purposes. w

The object of the invention is to simplify the structure as well as themeans and mode of operation of auxiliary car doors and barricades,whereby they will not only be cheapened in construction, but will bemore efficient in use, positive and secure in opera tion-,capable ofbeing easily and quickly ad justed, and unlikely to get out of repair. rA further object offthe invention is to pro-' videa grain door-orbarricade, which may be gradually opened from the bottom, with minimumeffort, to permit the escape of the grain from the car in regulatedquantity.

A further object of the invention is to provide a normally closedbarricade, which will permit easy and ready access to the .interior ofthe car for inspection purposes. I

A further and important ob'ect of the invention is 'to provide means forremovably mounting these adjustable sections in registry with the cardoor openings, and .to provide a suitable support upon which thebarricade may be shifted out of registry with the door when .not in useand maintained inreadiness for subsequent use.

With the above primary and other incidental obje'ctsin view as will morefully appearin the specification, the invention consists of the featuresof construction, the

parts and combinations thereof, and the mode of operation or theirequivalents as herein describedand set forth in the claims. Referring-tothe accompanying drawings, wherein is shown the preferred, butobviously, notnecessarily the only form of embodiment of theinven'tio'n, 1 is perspectiveview of a portion of the interior of a boxcar, showing the grain door or barricade forming the subject matterhereof, in its adjusted operative position. Fig. 2 is an exterior viewof the freight car door withthe main door open and the auxiliary orgraindoor closing the car opening. Fig. 3 is a detail sectional perspectiveview illustrating the relation of the relatively adjustable section ofthe door. Fig. 4 is a detail plan view.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of. reference throughoutthe several views. r j I Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a boxcar of the usual slidedoor type, of which 2 is the main door or closure,slidingly mounted upon the exterior of th'e car. Obviously, such acardoor ordinarily constructed and mounted is not leak tight. Moreover,the grain could not be restrained in the car until the loading operationcompleted'with the door open and the car tions.

could not be loaded at all with the door closed, if this usual slidingdoor alone was depended upon. It is for this reason that grain shippershave made a practice of barricading the door to a point above the loadline, by nailing boards across it. As a more convenient substitute forsuch board barricade, there is pr vided a grain door to be detachablysecured to the inside of the car door opening. This grain door consistsof a normally stationarily secured main or intermediate door section 3,extending in opposite: directions beyondthe jambs of the car dooropening and detachably secured to the side of the car by suitable anglebrackets, hasps, bolts, or other forms of attachment. The intermediateand normally stationary main section 3 of the grain door is provided atits opposite ends with guides or ways l, in which is slidingly mountedthe bottom section 5. of the door. This bottom section overlaps thelower margin of the intermediate stationary main section 3, and normallyrests upon the floor of the car at the bottom of the car door opening.This lower section is vertically adjustable in the guides .or ways 4;,and may be graduallyelevated from the exterior of the car to permit theregulated escape of the grain. To this end, this lower'sliding section 5is preferably though not necessarily provided upon its exterior facewith one or more small pry lugs 6, under which a lever or bar may beinserted to elevate the sliding sec- This sliding section is providedwith a spring detent 7, engaging in a socket or recess in the outer faceof the stationary main intermediate sections 3, when the lower slidingsection is in its closed or lowermost position. This spring dctent 7yields outwardly to enable theelevation of the sliding door section 5,and at the upper limit of the adjustment the spring detent will engageover the top margin of the statonary intermediate section 3, or in asecond socket opening if desired to retain the sliding section in itselevated position.

inged to the top margin of the stationary intermediate section 8 is aninwardly swinging inspection board 8. The joint between the inspectionboard 8 and the stationary supporting section 3 is preferably rabbetedand the board 8 is attached by hinges 9 permitting it to be swunginwardly and downwardly. This board 8 in the erected position of thegrain door is located above the level of the load line. When swungdownward and inward it affords an ample opening between the top of thestationary section 8 and the top of the door opening to permit theentrance of a man over the barricade for inspection of the cargo ofgrain. At other times this hinged leaf or inspection board is maintainedin its upright or enclosed position, in the plane of the stationaryclosure section 3 of'whic'n it forms an extension, by means of suitablelocks or latches accessible from the outside of the car. In the presentinstance, small lock plates 10 are shown pivoted to the swinginginspection leaf or board 8, and having holes therein through whichremovable pins may be inserted intoregistering openings in the uppermargins of the guide ways 4. By removing such pins, the leaf may beswunginward' and access be had to the car. It will be understoodthat thegrain door or barricade overlapsthe lateral margins of the door opening,suflicient distance in both directionsto prevent leakage of grain.Moreover, the ends of the sliding lower sections 5 of the door arepreferably rabbeted for reception in the grooved guides or ways 4, sothat the face of such adjustable panel or section 5 will extend flushwith the face of theguide ways a and so contact uniformly withtheinterior face of the car door frame. 7

When not in use for grain shipment purposes, -the auxiliary door orbarricade is contracted into compact'form by sliding the lower sectionor panel 5 upward intofregistry with themain supporting section 3, andthen suspending'the collapsedor contracted door structure against theinside wall of the car in a position at one side of the car door 7opening. To facilitate the movement of the barricade doorinto and out ofposition and to adjustably attach it tothe car, that it may not bediscarded or lost,-the door is preferably suspended from a trolleycarrier, This carrier consists of the frame or hanger structure 11provided with carrying wheels 12, which engage and travel upon a trolleytrack 13, secured to the interior wall of the carabove the car dooropening and extending thence laterally toward the end of the car. lVhilethe grain door or barricade structure may be fixedly or rigidly securedto such traveling hanger or carri'er device, it is preferably suspendedfrom such hanger by means of cables l4, he lower ends of which aresecured to the normally stationary or supporting sections 3 of the doorstructure, and the upper ends of which are secured to and retrieved bythe rotationof a Windlass rod 15, mounted in the hanger structure. ThisWindlass rod 15 is provided with a medial crankjor offet portion 16, bywhiclrthe rod may be rotated to wind or retrieve the suspension cablesand so elevate the grain'door when detached from the car dooropen'ing,to an elevated position where it will not interfere with the loading ofthe car .with other merchandise. The collapsed door having been elevatedby the rotation of the Windlass 'rod, such Windlass rod may be locked byinserting a pin 17fthrough registering holes in the rod and in asuitable projecting portion of the hanger frame. Tliereupon the door maybe shifted upon the supporting rack away from the car door opening anheld suspended near the top of the car, but easily accessible for thenext grain shipment. "Inasmuch as freight cars may be loaded todifferent heights with different varieties of grain, that is to say, theload line for corn is somewhat higher than that for wheat, and the loadline for oats is higher than either corn or wheat, the suspension cablesand Windlass rod 15 are of material assistance in locating theintermediate door section 3 at various heights according to thecharacter of the grain to be loaded. That is to say, if the cargo iswheat, the intermediate section 3 is set at somewhat greater elevationthereby reducing the interior pressure on the lower sliding section 5 ofthe door. The suspension cables and traveling carriage therefore, notonly facilitate the movement of the collapsible barricade into and outof registry with the door opening, but is of material ssistance intemporarily supporting the barricade parts while being secured to theinterior of the door opening frame. To further enable the lower slidingsection 5 of the barricade to resist the interior pressure of the grain,the section 5 is preferably though not necessarily provided with adependent belt or stud 18, projecting below the lower margin of thesliding door section and engageable in a corresponding socket in thebottom of the door frame or sill of the car. As a means of sealing thebarricade to prevent the leakage of grain in transit, the lower marginof the sliding section 5 is preferably, though not necessarily providedwith a flexible sealing strip 19 of cloth, rubber or other suitablematerial. This sealing strip .19 is attached to the sliding section 5 ina rabbet formed in the inner face of the door section, in order thatwhen the parts are in collapsed condition, said strips may readily passbeyond the lower edge of the intermediate section 3. When in use, suchsealing strip extends laterally upon the floor of the car as shown inFig. 1. Turnbuckles 20 having at their ends, hooks engageable in screweyes projecting from the outer face of the sliding barricade sectionside, and located in the frame of the car door opening, may be employedto further secure such sliding door section and to drawit into closerelationship with the car door frame. the complete separation of thedoor or barricade sections 3 and 5, and the loss or misplacement of theloose section, the range of their sliding adjustment is preferablylimited by providing a vertically disposed spline or groove 21, in theouter face of the stationary section 3, in which'engages a stud 22,mounted in the slidable section 5. The engagement of the stud 22 withthe opposite ends of the spline or groove 21, limits the barricadesections To preventv relativesliding adjustment of the section 5 ineither direction.

From the above description there is provided a device of the characterdescribed possessing the particular features of advantage beforeenumerated as desirable, but which obviously is susceptible ofmodification in its 'fOIlL, proportions, detail construction andarrangement of parts without d'eparting from the principle involved orsacrificing any of its advantages.

While in order to comply with the statute the invention has beendescribed in language more or less specific as to structural features,it is to be understood not limited to the specific details shown, butthat the means and construction herein disclosed comprises the preferredform of several modes of putting the invention into effect and theinvention is, therefore, claimed in any of its forms or modificationswithin the legitimate and valid scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In a barricade for car doors, a unitary structure comprising anintermediate sec-. tion to be detachably secured to the interior facesof the jambs of a car door, guide ways provided at each end on theintermediate section, a bottom section slidingly mounted. in saidterminal guide ways of the intermediate section, an auxiliary sectionhinged to the top of the intermediate section and swingable inwardly, asupporting trolley for said sectional barricade, a runway for thetrolley upon which the trolley travels to shift the supported barricadesections into and out of registry with the car door opening, andhoisting means connecting the with the trolley.

2. In a barricade for car doors, a main section to be detachably securedto theinterior faces of the jambs of a car door opening, guide waysprovided at opposite ends on the main section, a lower section slidinglymounted in such guide ways for vertical sliding movement, a verticallydisposed groove in the face of the main section, a stud in the adjacentface of the sliding section engaging in said groove to limit therelative sliding movement of the sections, and a spring detent upon thesliding section for engaging it in adjusted relation with the mainsection.

3. In a barricade for car doors a unitary structure, a plurality ofrelatively adjustable sections to be detachably secured across theinterior of a car door opening, a trolley, a runway secured to theinteriorfof the car upon which thetrolley travels to and fro, arevoluble crank shaft mounted upon the trolley and accessible from theexterior of the barricade, and hoisting cables connecting the barricadesections with the crank that the invention is shaft'by which thesections are raised and for vertical sliding movement, a top section 35lowered, said sections being movable intopghinged to the main sectionfor inward and out of registry with the car door open swinging movement,standards carried ing by the to and fro movement of the by the inaisection with which the trolley. swinging section is engageable when in4. In a barricade for car doors, a main closed position, means forlocking the 20 section of greater length than the width of swingingsection to said standards, and the car door opening, brackets forsecuring means for locking the sliding'section relasuch section fixedlyto the interior faces of tive to the main section. the door jainbs atmid height position, a In testimony whereof, I have hereunto lowersliding section also of greater width set my hand this 13 day of MarchA. D. 25 than the car door opening, guide channels 1924.

carried by the main fixed section in which 7 the extremities of thelower section engage CLARENCE E. GARAVVAY.

